No one had thought about it carefully before, but after Jing Zhe mentioned it, they immediately realized the truth.

Xiong San thought for a moment and said, "Does President Jing mean that what Zhang Xuehou said is true and not fabricated out of thin air, and that the Prince of Jin's heir is indeed behind this winery?"

Meanwhile, Zhao Wei, the head of the interview department, had already returned and added, "It's definitely true. Everyone can think about it. Zhang Xuehou is just an ordinary citizen. If he didn't know the Prince of Jin's heir, how could he dare to speak ill of him so casually?"

Jing Zhe nodded: "Yes, the Prince of Jin must be the mastermind behind this. Stealing other people's crafts, monopolizing the liquor business, and seizing huge amounts of wealth may not seem like big deals, but have you ever thought about it? He's a prince who has no worries about food and drink, what use would he have for so much money?"

"..."

After a moment of silence, someone whispered, "Prince Jin..."

Jing Zhe nodded in satisfaction, but warned him at the same time, "You can't just say that out loud."

Everyone nodded, then asked, "President Jing, this involves too many people. Shall we really write about the Prince of Jin's heir?"

Everyone knew that the Prince of Jin wielded immense power, so they felt a certain fear in their hearts.

"As subjects, we should help Your Majesty share your burdens and solve your problems. However, we are of low rank and have little power, so our words carry little weight. Therefore, we should just write down Zhang Xuehou's original words and emphasize them several times. For example, we can say that Zhang Xuehou kept repeating that he was backed by the Prince of Jin's heir and that the Prince of Jin's heir instructed him to do so. However, through our interviews, the Prince of Jin's heir denied everything."

After listening, everyone thought for a moment, and Zhao Wei clapped his hands and said, "President Jing's idea is great! This way, we don't have to get involved in the power struggle for the throne, and at the same time, we can effectively remind His Majesty to be vigilant!"

The others nodded in agreement.

Jing Zhe smiled and said, "That's good. Go back and work out an outline based on this idea. I'll take a look when I get back!"

"Yes, President Jing!"

After saying that, the group went back first.

...

Instead of following them back to the newspaper office, Jing Zhe headed towards the Zhang family's location. When he passed by the Zhang family's winery, he noticed that the winery's business had improved somewhat compared to the previous two days.

This is understandable, though. Zhang Xuehou's makeshift distillery didn't produce much to begin with, and to handle Jing Zhe's huge order, he probably turned down other orders. So, when people came to buy spirits, they came to the authentic Zhang family distillery.

People were coming and going from the once quiet distillery. Knowing that Zhang Xuexian was probably not in the mood to manage the distillery recently, Jing Zhe didn't intend to go in and instead set off for the Zhang family.

Suddenly, a commotion arose in the distillery.

A short while later, a portly middle-aged man stormed out of the distillery.

"We at Wenxiangju are doing you a favor by buying your strong liquor, and you still won't sell it? What gives you the right to refuse? If you keep going like this, you'll go out of business sooner or later!"

"Manager Song, we really can't sell this. Please leave!"

At this moment, a man came out of the winery. Jing Zhe recognized him; he was Zhang Xuexian's trusted confidant, and his name seemed to be Li Quan.

Give me a reason!

"This is what our manager said: we will no longer do business with Wenxiangju!"

Li Quanqiang said firmly.

Manager Song stood with his hands on his hips, and after listening to him finish speaking, he sneered repeatedly.

"Is Manager Zhang unhappy that I went to another Zhang Family Distillery to buy spirits? But isn't Zhang Xuehou, the manager of that Zhang Family Distillery, Zhang Xuexian's younger brother? They're from the same family, so why the difference?"

Li Quan stood there and said calmly, "He stole our liquor-making techniques, and it has nothing to do with my Zhang Family Distillery. From now on, our distillery will not accept anyone who does business with him!"

"..."

Manager Song was somewhat exasperated, then let out a cold laugh.

"I'm doing you a favor by coming here to buy liquor, but you're being incredibly ungrateful! I only bought liquor from them because they're cheaper! If they hadn't received a huge order and couldn't keep up with it, I wouldn't have come to buy from them even if you begged me!"

Manager Song shouted, and many people on the street gathered around to watch, making him even more excited.

"Everyone, come and listen! The Zhang Family Distillery next to our Wenxiangju is really good! They sell the same spirits, but at a much lower price!"

Passersby listened and began to discuss it amongst themselves. Some people who had bought liquor from both stores at the same time were also whispering and sharing their experiences.

Li Quan blushed and shouted, "Fellow villagers, don't listen to him! That distillery stole our techniques. Their cloudy liquor is bought cheaply from others, and the alcohol content of the spirits they make with cloudy liquor is nowhere near as high as ours, which is why it's so cheap!"

Because he was eager to achieve quick results, Zhang Xuehou brewed strong liquor in a very short time. Although it had a higher alcohol content than cloudy liquor, it was still far inferior to the authentic strong liquor from Zhang's distillery.

Someone chimed in, "Yes, Zhang's liquor may be a bit more expensive, but the quality is undeniably excellent!"

Immediately, some people agreed.

However, some people disagreed: "They're both spirits, how much worse can they be? Besides, who would buy the expensive one if there's a cheaper one?"

Others echoed this sentiment.

Manager Song was quite pleased with himself and said, "How much spirits does your distillery sell in a day? If it weren't for the high demand from Wenxiangju, I wouldn't be here! Sell them to me quickly, or they'll just be sitting on my hands and I won't be able to sell them!"

"..."

Li Quan's face turned red, and he wanted to curse him, but in front of so many people, he couldn't bring himself to speak.

...

"Young Master Jing..."

Just as Jing Zhe was standing behind the crowd, thinking about how to teach this Manager Song a lesson without being recognized, someone tugged at him from behind.

Looking back, it was Zhang Xiaoyu, standing there timidly, seemingly feeling ashamed that Jing Zhe had seen this scene.

These past few days, because of Zhang Xuehou's matter, Zhang Xuexian has lost much of his mood to deal with the distillery. His hair turned much whiter overnight, and he often drowns his sorrows in alcohol, getting completely drunk.

Because the distillery was very close to the Zhang family's house and the noise was quite loud, Zhang Xiaoyu came out after hearing it.

She was surprised to find Jing Zhe there, and it seemed that Jing Zhe had seen her make a fool of herself, which made her feel somewhat embarrassed.

Jing Zhe's eyes lit up when he saw Zhang Xiaoyu.

"Xiaoyu, you've come at the right time. Go over there and say this to him..."

He leaned down and whispered something in Zhang Xiaoyu's ear. The warm, moist breath against her ear made Zhang Xiaoyu momentarily stunned; it tickled...

"Did you remember?"

When Jing Zhe asked the question, she finally looked up from her reverie, her face blank: "Ah! I...I...I didn't hear you clearly, Young Master Jing...could you please say it again?"

After saying that, her cheeks turned bright red all the way to her neck. She dared not look at Jing Zhe again, and her head hung down completely, disappearing into her ample cleavage...

"..."

————